re: African Chiefs Urged to Apologize for Slave Trade
August 28, 2017
The African slave trade was just that — a TRADE. Every trade involves a BUYER and A SELLER. Who were the sellers? The African Chiefs, as Michael points out in his blog. The buyers were not so foolish as to go into the interior of Africa and be killed by animals, African tribesemen, or disease. They did buisiness with the African chiefs who, like typical politicians, gladly sold out their people — literally.
Do descendants of the African chiefs owe reparations to the American descendant of the people sold into slavery by their ancestors? (My fried Professor Walter E. Williams once jokingly remarked to the late Professor Gordon Tullock that he (Tullock) owed him reparations for slavery. Tullock’s response was to say no, Walter, you owe me reparations since “my people” are responsible for you living an affluent life in America as opposed to somewhere in much-less-affluent Africa. This is actually the theme of the book Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa, by Keith Richburg, a former Washington Post correspondent who reported from Africa for many years).
Where Will It All End?